The Fire and Rescue Services Department will soon come out with a list of ‘high fire risk’ high-rises in Ernakulam.
It will be submitted before the district administration and local bodies concerned for immediate action. The category of ‘high fire risk’ apartments will be made out of the already available list of buildings that lack firefighting systems, prepared by the department. According to the latest data, 928 high-rises in Ernakulam lacked proper fire safety mechanism.
Officials close to the development referred to the case of an apartment complex near the Jawaharlal Nehru International Stadium at Kaloor, which has more than 600 apartments in various towers. The department had found that the complex lacked even basic firefighting systems.
Fire officials found that emergency exits in most of the buildings figuring in the list remained permanently blocked. Entry and exit points were not clearly demarcated. Firefighting equipment in the buildings, which act as the first line of defence, were defunct owing to the lack of periodical maintenance.
Several alterations from the approved plan were also found in buildings without no-objection certificates. The department also found that several high-rise buildings in the city lacked firefighting installations and space around them for movement of firefighting vehicles.
The safety audit being carried out by the department revealed that sprinkler valves in some of the buildings remained permanently closed. Water hose reels were found stuck and not working. Several apartments were found not applying for renewal of NOCs even though rules prescribe that it should be reviewed every year by the officials of the Fire Department.
First phase
Officials said the district administration and local bodies could initiate action against the ‘high-risk’ apartments in the first phase. The Fire department will recommend stringent action against defaulters in view of the increasing number of fire accidents being reported across the State.